The change in him
by jenwhiterose
Summary: Alice has just been pushed through The Mirror back into her world. Hatter has to make a decision. *Revised* And with a better ending
1. Chapter 1

Hatter just stood where he was and watched as Alice was pushed through the mirror. His gut wrenched. The last words that Alice would ever hear in Wonderland rang in his ears: "Force yourself to breath." And he did just that.

Jack came back to stand next to him, and they both stared into the mirror. Jack saw the new King of Wonderland reflected back at him. All Hatter could focus on was the reflection of the empty coat in his hand.

Hatter looked at Jack's reflection next to him in the mirror and spat out, "You _let_ her go."

Jack glanced sideways at Hatter and said with a sigh, "I asked her to stay and be my queen."

"I figured. And you still let her go." Hatter wondered why she would give up the man she took on the Queen of Hearts and the whole Deck of Cards for.

"She told me she wasn't the same person anymore and that she didn't _want the same thing_."

Hatter heard the italics in Jack's statement and looked over to see that Jack was looking at him. Was that it? Was _he_ it? Her reason for giving up what she worked so hard to protect?

Jack gave Hatter a smug half smile and said, "_You_ let her go."

And for a second time since Alice was pushed through the mirror, Hatter forced himself to breath.

It took him a matter of seconds to process his decision. Seconds, for a man who had spent his whole life up until this point carefully weighing his decisions and never truly committing to anything. And then he realized that he too had changed. Alice, Alice-of-Legend had changed him. He chuckled to himself. Hatter had never drunk the tonic he sold in his tea shop. He had not wanted his feelings to be dependent on any Oyster brought through the mirror. And yet it turned out that an Oyster made him feel, after all. Now, for the first time in a long time, he fully committed to a decision.

Hatter was going through that mirror.

Deep down, Jack felt he needed to admit he hated Hatter. How that man could come along and steal Alice from the now King of Wonderland he would never know. He knew Hatter had traded in the tonic wrung out of Oysters, and he used that fact to feel better about himself. He looked at Hatter reflected in the mirror of Wonderland and knew that he came out better in the comparison. So how did she choose Hatter over the new King?

Out of pride, Jack spoke his next words, "Go through the mirror earlier than her and establish yourself. You should get a job and apartment first."

Jack then asked a Spade to create an identity for Hatter. The now former Queen of Hearts had them made for the Cards on her raiding parties, so that if the Cards were stopped by anyone in the other world they would have ID and wouldn't stand out. A birth certificate, a social security card, and access to Jack's bank account over there should help. Hatter decided to use his real first name in Alice's world. From now on he would be David Hatter. Jack explained fully what Hatter would need to do before sending him through.


	2. Chapter 2

Once the rush of getting through the mirror and finding an apartment in Alice's neighborhood had passed, Hatter understood the dark look that passed over Jack's face right before he had given Hatter the means to go after Alice.

Because Hatter (now David) had come through ahead of time, it meant that he had to watch Jack date Alice. After all, she didn't even know who he was yet, she didn't know she could trust him, and he didn't want to risk introducing himself too early. So Hatter watched. He watched and it nearly killed him, yet he couldn't turn away. He had given up his world for her.

While he watched and waited, he got a job in construction. It was something he could do with his hands that didn't involve much knowledge of the world he now lived in. As it turned out, he was good at it. Only once did he forget and refer to one of his co-workers as an Oyster, but fortunately the other man had just taken it as an odd gibe.

Always, he kept an eye on Alice and Jack.

One day he saw Alice and Jack walking together, and he really noticed how she looked at Jack. And that was when he got the difference between Jack and himself, where Alice was concerned. Alice looked at Jack as if she saw all of the _possibilities_ of love and happiness. Hatter knew that was not anything like the way she looked at him. While they had been standing at the looking glass, she had looked at Hatter—right before he spoke and wrecked the moment—as if she had found everything she had been looking for.

Breathing easily for the first time in months, he turned to the purple coat hanging on the hook by the door, its patient waiting almost up. It wouldn't be empty for long.


End file.
